


Headline News

by secret_daydreamer



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Christine's POV, F/M, set after Iron Man 2 probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8011027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret_daydreamer/pseuds/secret_daydreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christine Everheart tries to get Tony to talk but Pepper intervenes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Headline News

This was probably Christine's favorite part of her job, attending galas and benefits, having a nice time and spying on California's rich and famous. On events like these she would always find a juicy story, people have one drink too many, loosen up a little and spill the latest gossip to her.  
Today, though, she had a certain person in mind: Tony Stark. He'd always been a very public per-son- until the whole 'I am Iron Man' thing, that is. As of late things have gotten quiet around him, with the exception of the promotion of his, now former, PA, the Stark Expo gone wrong a couple of months ago, and the occasional story about one of Iron Man's missions. There was no excessive partying, no womanizing - at least nothing the public has heard of - there was noth-ing.  
But Christine was set to change that, she simply had to follow him around for the evening and if she got nothing she would have to throw herself at him, for the sake of a good story of course.  
When she was arriving in the most provoking, without looking too slutty, dress she could afford Tony Stark was nowhere to be seen, but that was nothing unexpected, so she went to find a good spot to observe what's happening. When she found a fitting one, she got herself light drink, as not to get too wasted - this was a work event after all, and watched the entrance.  
Tony arrived much earlier as she had expected him to - which made her glad she's arrived as early as she had - accompanied by the famous Pepper Potts, his personal assistant turned CEO of his company. That was nothing new, they usually arrived together, Potts had to pretty much force him to attend at all, she assumed. They were talking and Stark looked like a little child, trying to persuade his mom to buy him ice cream, but Potts pointed towards the crowd and gave him a stern look, which he rolled his eyes at and they strode off in different directions, Potts toward the crowd of, no doubt, important board members and other personas she had to socialize with to be a successful CEO and Stark toward the bar, where he ordered a drink and sat down to observe the crowd.  
After about an hour had passed and Stark hadn't moved and nothing had really happened, except few people stopping by to say hello and Pepper Potts coming over to get herself a drink, flash a quick smile at him as he obviously whined about something, before leaving again, she decided Plan B was required in order to be going home with any story at all.  
She made his way over to him, making sure to present her 'arguments' as seductively as possible as soon as he had spotted her. She smiled. 'Hi, Tony. What a nice surprise to be seeing you here tonight.'  
He let out a snort. 'Yeah right. I bet.'  
Okay, so seducing him the old-fashioned way wasn't going to work, probably due to their history of her prying him for more information. So she tried a different approach, that had never failed anyone with Tony Stark before.  
'Hm. You're right. Maybe I just wanted to see you tonight, have little fun. You know, last time was really amazing and I was hoping for a repeat performance.' She bit her lip.  
'Uh, not interested.', he said, much to her surprise.  
'Oh, come on. You're Tony Stark, you're always interested.', she tried again.  
'Not anymore. Christine, is it?'  
'Uh, yeah. And why's that all of a sudden?'  
He seemed to think about what best to answer without giving away whatever it was he was trying to keep secret.  
'I've grown up.' he finally answered. 'It's just not what I do anymore.'  
'So, you're actually looking for a special somebody to date now and not just one-night-stands? Well, that's a twist.' She was honestly surprised, she'd never thought she'd see the day when Tony Stark turned down a woman propositioning him, for whatever reason it was.  
He seemed uncomfortable, so she decided to pry even further. maybe there was a bigger story than 'Has Tony Stark finally grown up?'  
'Or is there already somebody?' Suddenly a suspicion crept into her mind, one that has been voiced so many times before. But she was not willing to tell him about it just yet.  
'Uh, sort of.'  
'Sort of? As in no, but you want people to stay away from you, or as in yes, somebody has actually managed to tame Tony Stark? Either way, I'm impressed.'  
As she was speaking, he looked past her and shook his head, ever so slightly. She spun around seeing the woman his head-shake was addressed to. That only confirmed her suspicion. She turned, facing Tony again.  
'It's Potts, isn't it? Your sort of girlfriend. Well, that explains a lot. How she gother new job, for instance.'  
That made him give him the death glare. He leaned closer to her, gripped her arm and hissed: 'Do not ever suggest again that Pepper Potts slept her way to the top. Ever.'  
'So it's not her?' She freed herself of his grip, glaring back. She knew this was dangerous territory but damn it to hell she would do anything for that story, whatever it was. Tony Stark had al-ways intrigued her, there was something about him - he was gorgeous, no doubt - but that wasn't it. When she was in her teens she had fawned over him like every other girl she knew, had wondered whether it was a front he was putting on or his true self, had fantasized about changing his life and living happily ever after with him. She'd quickly gotten over that, though, but the nagging thought, that maybe, just maybe playboy billionaire wasn't all there was to him, had remained - and proven to be true, she liked to think. Nevertheless, everything would make a great story at this point, but information was her job so she tried to get as much as she could get.  
They were still scowling at each other when Pepper put her drink on the bar and turned to Christine.  
'Making trouble much, Ms. Everheart?'  
'Oh, I'm not making trouble at all Ms. Potts. I was just asking Tony here about his mystery girl-friend.'  
Pepper's face remained professional. Christine admired her for that, she could never quite manage to control her emotions. Use them for manipulation, sure, but not control.  
'I'm sure Mr. Stark has already told you that there is no mystery girlfriend.' She looked at her expectantly. Christine knew that with Pepper here Tony would give her nothing, but that didn't stop her from trying.  
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. He admitted that there was sort of someone. You wouldn’t happen to know who that is? I’m sure you’ve met her, with you taking out the trash and all.” She alluded to the snide remark Potts had made towards her before the whole abduction debacle. “Oh, that’s right. You’ve been promoted. Wanna share how that happened?” She gave her a sweet smile, one through which Potts would immediately see, but it gave her pleasure to follow Stark’s emotions. He couldn’t hide them very well. “He was good, wasn’t he?” She winked at Tony.  
Tony jumped up and was about to yell at her again when Potts motioned for him to remain silent and, surprisingly enough, he complied.  
“Ms. Everheart, I knew you weren’t much of a professional but at the very least I would’ve expected you to have the sense to know that this tactic wouldn’t work on me.”  
“But it does work on him. It heart-warming, really, how you managed to make him be good little puppy.”  
“Hey, I’m not a puppy”, he protested.  
Potts raised her eyebrow at him.  
“Ok, ok. You’re right, I do behave like one sometimes. But you gotta admit, I’m cute.” He grinned at her. Christine could see her trying to suppress a smile but she failed and the corners of Potts' mouth turned upwards.  
“Go get a room, already!”, she exclaimed but she felt her suspicions confirmed. She was going to make up some points of her story but she would try the ‘actually in love’ approach. That wasn’t something anyone else had tried before so there was her story. It was a tough business, despite what everyone thought but the ‘domesticated asshole’ story was almost heartwarming. Maybe it was going to make the headline news in her magazine.


End file.
